Twilight belongs to the ridiculously talented Stephenie Meyer.
A Father's Hope belongs to me.
Please see the A/N at the bottom for the explanation of a couple things ;)
Thanks to twimom817 for beta'ing and making this look pretty.
Chapter Ten
I had nearly six great weeks with Chloe that summer. Because I worked five days a week and was on call, I made arrangements for Chloe to attend summer camp during the week. I found a great dance camp that Bella convinced me Chloe would love. I'd drop her off in the morning before heading to work and either my parents or Bella would pick her up in the afternoons. We fell into an easy routine that somehow worked out for everyone.
When Bella picked her up, they'd spend the afternoon playing in the park or at the library lost in a book. That was one thing I'd be forever grateful to Bella for – getting Chloe interested in reading. Irina wasn't a reader unless it was a beauty magazine. I'd always loved books, but since I'd started at the police academy I didn't have much time to read. Bella taught Chloe that books could be fun – not just something you learn from. Bella would cook dinner for us all on the days she picked up Chloe. She'd choose something that Chloe could help her with and they'd make dinner together.
It made me happy to see them getting along so well because they were the most important people in my life. To come home to them was one of the best feelings in the world. I'd walk in the door and they were both smiling and happy to see me. Chloe of course was eager to tell me how her day was and then show me what she'd learned that day. After dinner, I'd help Bella with the dishes and we'd say goodnight.
Gone were the lazy weekends that Bella and I shared. We tried to make up for it as often as possible, my parents keeping Chloe on the weekends so that Bella and I could spend some time together. Rose and Emmett even volunteered to have a sleepover for the girls so Bella and I could be together. The evenings and mornings belonged to Bella and me, but the rest of the time was just for the three of us.
"Can we go fishing again, Daddy?"
"Sure, baby. Do you want to ask Uncle Em and Katie to go or do you just want it to be us?"
"You and me and Bella, Daddy."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yep. I love Bella a lot, don't you, Daddy?"
"I do, Chloebear. Bella's very special and I like spending time with her. I like when we spend time with her."
"Me too," Chloe agreed. "Daddy … are you going to marry Bella?"
"Chloe …" I chided. "Honey, I love Bella but we're still getting to know each other. Getting married is a big deal, baby. I don't want what happened to your mom and me to happen with me and Bella. So for now we're happy to spend time together, okay?"
Chloe nodded.
We spent an enjoyable afternoon out on the lake fishing. Bella had made us an amazing picnic lunch and I was shocked to see Chloe eat everything Bella put out for her. She was normally such a picky eater and my mom had packed a backup lunch just in case but it wasn't needed. After lunch, we settled down on our blanket and Bella took out a book and she and Chloe took turns reading to me as my head laid in Bella's lap. I don't remember falling asleep, but I remember Bella telling Chloe not to wake me.
"Hey, handsome," Bella crooned. "Time to wake up. Chloe needs the bathroom and my butt is asleep," she giggled.
"Oh well, we can't have that now can we?" I said, sitting up.
Chloe slept in the car on the way home. I thanked Bella for letting me nap while she and Chloe continued to read.
"You were tired, Edward. It's fine," she promised.
"I wouldn't have been so tired if a feisty brunette hadn't kept me up all night," I smirked.
"Are you complaining, baby?" Bella grinned.
"Never. "
Our weeks with Chloe went by way faster than I would have liked for them to. Her last day of camp coincided with her last full day with us and I managed to take time off to go and see her recital even though I had been brought in on an important case and was working more hours than usual. Bella had also taken the day off along with the rest of my family to go and support Chloe. I was thankful that Bella had thought ahead and brought a small bouquet of pale pink roses for Chloe. I knew she'd be so excited that Bella brought her flowers for her dance debut.
Chloe looked like an angel dancing up on the stage. She was so light on her feet and very, very graceful. Alice was busy clicking picture after picture and the smile on my mom's face was as bright as the sun. I held Bella's hand in mine as we watched routine after routine, but it wasn't something that I could ever tire of – seeing my little girl doing something she loved; something that made her happy.
"Daddy … will you ask mommy if she'll sign me up for dance classes at home?" Chloe asked later that night as I tucked her into bed one last time.
"Sure, baby. I don't think mommy will have a problem with that. I'll ask her when I talk to her tomorrow, okay?"
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take Chloe back to California because of the case I was working on, but my mom would be flying down with her and make sure that she got back to Irina safely.
Chloe nodded and I kissed her forehead before turning out her light.
"Be a good girl for Mom-mom, okay?" I asked.
"I will, Daddy," Chloe promised.
"I love you, baby girl. See you at Thanksgiving, okay?"
"Okay." Chloe smiled.
I buckled my baby girl in and waved as my parents took off toward the airport and I got in my car to head into work to get a head start on all the paperwork I had to sift through.
Little did I know, that would be the last time I'd see my daughter for nearly a year.
Irina agreed that she would have Chloe back in time for school to start in mid-August. That didn't happen. She gave me the excuse that she was starting some college classes in September that she couldn't take in California and they needed to stay in Bahrain until the end of the semester in December.
"Irina … you said you'd have her back. I'm happy that you're taking classes and trying to do something productive, but she's nearly six years old – she needs to be in school."
"She's got a tutor, Edward. Don't worry about her, she won't fall behind."
"What about Thanksgiving? Part of our agreement for taking her in July was that I'd get her for Thanksgiving and Christmas."
"If you want to fly here to get her for Thanksgiving, Edward you are more than welcome."
"Irina …"
"No, Edward. If you want her, you'll have to fly here to get her. I will bring her to you at Christmas, but if you want her for Thanksgiving, it's up to you to make it happen."
"That's a long trip for only a few days, Irina."
So it was that I explained to my sweet little girl that I wouldn't be keeping my promise and seeing her for Thanksgiving, but I promised her with all that I had that I'd see her at Christmas.
After that, calls from Irina were few and far between. She only called when she needed something and she never let Chloe talk for long. Just after Chloe's birthday, the calls stopped altogether. I tried calling, but always got Irina's voicemail and she never bothered to call me back. I also tried emailing her, but that deemed futile as well. Bella suggested contacting her on Facebook. Her wall was full of all her activities, but not one thing mentioned Chloe.
Early one morning in mid-December I was woken out of a deep sleep by the ringing of my cell phone. I answered to find a sobbing Chloe on the other line.
"D-Daddy … I-I w-want to come home. I want to be with you and Bella. I hate it here. Mommy leaves me alone all day with the nanny and she's not very nice. I want to go to school too but Mommy won't let me."
I knew that Irina often left Chloe's care to a nanny when she was home in Bahrain but I never had any idea how much. I was also under the impression that Irina had done as I'd asked and enrolled Chloe in school which obviously was not the case.
"Baby girl … you'll be home in a little over a week. Can you hang on for me at least that long?"
"Yes, Daddy," she sobbed.
"Where is your mommy now?"
"She's sleeping. She doesn't know I tooked her phone."
"How did you figure out how to call me, Chloebear?"
"Mommy has your picture on her phone so she knows when you call. She doesn't answer a lot."
That was an understatement.
I could hear Irina's voice in the background calling for Chloe and I could hear her ask who Chloe was talking to.
"Daddy," was my sweet girl's reply.
"Edward?" Irina asked.
"I'm here, Irina. Care to explain why my daughter called me crying and telling me that she wants to come home?"
"She misses you, Edward. Surely you understand that."
"I do. I miss her immensely, Irina. Do you have an idea when you're flying in?"
"We'll be there on the 22nd. I'll email you our itinerary. You'll pick us up right?"
"I'll pick Chloe up. That was the deal, Irina."
"So what am I supposed to do? Not spend Christmas with my daughter?"
"You can do whatever you like, Irina. You took her early and you agreed that I could have her at Christmas, so this is you keeping your end of the agreement."
I couldn't believe that she'd actually think that she was welcome to stay with us during my visit with Chloe. That was most definitely not part of the deal and I could only imagine what my parents and Bella would think.
"Well, could you at least pay for a hotel then so I don't have to buy a ticket back to California?"
"If you want to stay in Seattle, you make your own arrangements, Irina."
"You're such an asshole, Edward. Would you really put the mother of your child out on the street at Christmas?"
"Irina … the divorce agreement says I have to provide for my daughter, not for you," I reminded her.
I looked up to see my mother standing in the doorway to my room.
"Just let her stay here, sweetheart. If you don't, I'm afraid you won't see Chloe at Christmas," my mom said softly.
"Fine … you can stay here. But you will mind your manners while you're here. You'll be respectful of my parents and of my girlfriend."
"Fine. See you on the 22nd."
With that, Irina ended the call. A few days later, I received their itinerary in my email. I made a point to take off from work a little early that day to give myself a little extra time to get to the airport. I checked their flight status and it was on-time. I waited impatiently at baggage claim, continuing to check the arrival boards. I saw the people from their flight claim their bags and leave the airport, but I never did see Chloe or Irina. I tried calling Irina several times, but it went to voicemail every time. I thought maybe they had missed their connection or something, but when I went up to the ticketing counter, they told me that they had no record of a Chloe Cullen or Irina Denali ever being ticketed and that they were most definitely not on the flight. The counter attendant asked me if I had the correct airline and I pulled up my email that Irina had sent and showed it to her. She apologized again and I turned and walked out of the airport angrier than I'd never been in my entire life.
I phoned my dad to tell him what was going on and he was like me – in utter disbelief. I saw red the majority of my drive home. I went straight to my dad's home office to find him furiously typing away on his computer. My mother sat on the couch beside his desk silently sobbing.
"Son … I think it's time to find a lawyer and fight this thing with Irina."
"But I have a lawyer," I argued.
"I think we need to find someone better, Son. I hate to say it, but I think this is going far beyond a custody violation but that's where we need to start."
There was a quiet knock at the front door and my mother stood to answer it as I stood and stared at my father in shock. I could barely hear Bella's quiet voice in the hall behind me as my mother explained that Chloe didn't come home.
"Edward …" Bella said softly.
I turned to look at her, her eyes full of concern.
"You're here …" I whispered.
"I came as soon as Esme called. Carlisle, my mom said to call Garrett Christianson. She gave him a brief rundown of the situation and he's expecting your call."
"Thank you, Bella," my father nodded.
Bella slipped her hand in mine and tugged me over to the couch to sit down. Gently, she drew circles across my knuckles. Her touch was soothing when I was seething inside.
"Edward …" my mother said, looking up from her own computer. "I got an email from Irina saying that they missed their flight. She says they are trying to get on another flight."
"Mom, that's bullshit and you know it. Irina has no intention of bringing Chloe home for Christmas. I knew that the moment she agreed to it."
"I know, honey. Let's just get in touch with Mr. Christianson and see what we can do about getting her back, okay?"
Mr. Christianson asked me to come in to his office the following morning. He asked me to bring any and all documentation I had. I collected every email, every phone bill reflecting incoming calls – everything. I had done exactly what Emmett suggested to the T. By the time we were done organizing everything and sifting through all the information, Mr. Christianson agreed that I definitely had a case, but the problem would be getting Chloe back to the U.S. because Bahrain doesn't honor judgments from U.S. courts.
That afternoon we filed a grievance against Irina for being in violation of her custody order and a request to move the case to Washington courts.
We knew the request would more than likely be denied, but it didn't hurt to try.
"California courts are strict when a child is involved so we'll have to see which way they want to go with this."
I nodded.
"Mr. Christianson, I don't care if I have to go to California to fight for my daughter. If that's what they decide then so be it. My main concern is my daughter. She's six years old … she should be in school interacting with other kids and learning and she's not. Her mother leaves her with a nanny and that's not right. She deserves the attention of her parents, not a nanny."
"I understand, Edward. We will bring those facts to light as soon as we possibly can. In the meantime, keep doing what you're doing. Document everything; even when it's Chloe calling because the frequency of those phone calls is important too."
I nodded and thanked him for his time, promising to be in touch.
Christmas was miserable without Chloe. All her unopened packages remained under the tree. Her absence hit everyone in my family hard. We still hadn't heard from her or Irina beyond the email saying that they'd missed their flight. Bella stayed over on Christmas Eve. She was so worried about me, knowing that Chloe not being home was killing me.
I had a surprise for Bella and Chloe that I couldn't wait to show them. In early November, I'd decided that I wanted to buy a house. I started the process with my VA loan and I found a neighborhood that I really liked where they were building new homes. The schools were good and the commute to work wasn't bad. It wouldn't be bad for Bella either. Yeah, I'd taken her into consideration when I started looking because as much as I fought it, she was a part of my life. I fell in love with her, something I thought I'd never do again but it felt right with her. She was sweet and caring, intelligent and funny – not to mention she was a fantastic cook. The best thing about her was that she loved Chloe and me unconditionally. I wanted to ask her to move in with me because I hated being apart from her and so I bought a fancy key and wrapped it up. I planned on giving it to her on Christmas.
As we sat in my parent's den on Christmas Eve in front of the fireplace, Bella sitting on my lap and Emmett and Rose on the couch, I realized that I didn't want to wait anymore to ask her. After everyone left, I took Bella by the hand and led her up to my room. We changed into our pajamas and crawled into bed. I reached over to my bedside table and took the box out of the drawer and handed it to Bella.
"What is this?" she asked softly.
"Just open it." I smiled.
She carefully tore the paper off and opened the box. Bella pulled out the key and held it by the red ribbon I'd tied onto it.
"Move in with me?" I asked quietly.
"Here?" Bella asked with a raised brow.
"No. I bought a house."
"You did?" Bella gasped.
"I did. It's being built and it won't be done for a few months, but I'll take you by in a couple days so you can see what it's going to look like. If you want you can help me choose the cabinets and countertops and that kind of stuff."
"Really? Oh, Edward. I'd love to!"
She wrapped her arms around me and I pulled her to my chest, kissing her and caressing her beautiful body. It didn't take long for us to lose ourselves in each other as I slid into her and made love to her the only way I knew how – the only way she deserved.
Christmas Day was much the same, only late in the afternoon my phone rang and it was my sweet baby's voice on the other end.
"Daddy?"
"Chloebear," I breathed.
"I miss you so much, Daddy. Will you come here and get me, please?"
My heart just about broke at her desperate plea but I have to admit that I gave it some serious thought.
"I'd love to, baby girl, but mommy probably wouldn't like that too much."
"She doesn't know that I'm talking to you. She said I'm not allowed to call you."
"Baby girl … you shouldn't disobey mommy, but I'm so glad you called. I miss you and it feels so good to hear your voice. Are you having a good Christmas?"
"No. Nana and Papa said that we couldn't have a Christmas tree this year," she sobbed. "I miss Mom-mom and Pop-pop and Aunt Alice and Bella … but Daddy I miss you most of all."
I hung my head in my hands and pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Edward?"
Bella was standing behind me gently rubbing my back. I mouthed to her that Chloe was on the phone and she smiled. I handed her the phone.
"Hey, sweetpea," Bella crooned.
"Bella!"
"How are you?"
"I miss you and Daddy."
"Daddy and I miss you too, sweetpea. Are you being a good girl?"
"Uh huh. But I want to come home."
"I know, sweetpea, just hang in there, okay? Here's your daddy. Love you, Chloe."
Bella handed me back the phone and I talked to Chloe for a few more minutes finding out that she still wasn't enrolled in school; she was still spending her days and most nights with the nanny. I was absolutely enraged at the thought that Irina had told my daughter that she wasn't allowed to call me.
"Mother fucker!" I yelled in frustration.
"Edward …" Bella said softly, "tell me what's going on."
I told her what Chloe had told me and the look on her sweet face was murderous.
"She's not allowed to call you? I bet that's not part of the custody agreement either," Bella fumed.
A couple days after Christmas I was at work when my email pinged. My mom had forwarded an email that Irina had sent her saying that she wanted to come home to the States but she wanted to move from where they were staying in Ontario* to San Diego. She wanted to know if I would use my VA loan to buy her a condo in San Diego so she could pursue her dreams of being an airline pilot. She said if I agreed to do so that she'd have Chloe home by New Year's Eve.
She was off her fucking rocker if she thought I was going to buy her a condo so she could shack up with her boyfriend and continue to treat Chloe like she has been; neglecting to send her to school and leaving her with a nanny all day.
"Obviously, Edward, Ms. Denali is using your daughter as means to get what she wants. I'm hoping that after the first of the year we'll have a court date and we can set things in motion. In the meantime, sit tight; don't give in to her demands," Mr. Christianson instructed me.
New Year's came and went and I didn't hear from Irina again. Bella had somehow managed to friend her on Facebook and in mid-January she called me at work one morning.
"Edward … Irina enrolled Chloe in school. She posted pictures of her first day of school on Facebook."
I felt anger and relief all at once. Anger because it had taken her so long to enroll her in school and relief because Chloe would finally be with other kids and she had a chance to learn something. It also meant that she wouldn't be spending the majority of her days with a nanny.
Just after the first of the year, I moved into Bella's apartment, and our new house was scheduled to be done in mid-June. I had taken Bella over to the neighborhood so she could tour the model home and she immediately fell in love with it.
"Oh Edward … it's perfect. Chloe will love it here."
We walked around the upstairs and she walked into the room that I pictured Chloe in.
"She'll want to paint it pink, you know," Bella giggled.
"She could ask me to paint it Pepto Bismol pink and I wouldn't care as long as she's here with us," I said softly.
"Edward … we'll get her back. Irina can't keep her forever. She's our little girl, too."
Ours.
Ours.
I repeated it over in my head because I loved the sound of it. I pulled Bella into my arms and held her tight.
"She's ours, baby."
A/N: Just a couple things …
A VA loan is a Veterans Assistance loan available to first time homebuyers who are currently serving or who have served in the military provided they were honorably discharged.
I mentioned that Irina wanted to move from Ontario to San Diego. The Ontario I'm referring to is in Southern California not Canada. = )
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